Mobile notifications for comment threads

ABSTRACT

A document system tracks activity within comment threads associated with portions of a stored document. When activity is detected within the document, the document system generates a corresponding notification for display by a client device within a notification interface. The notification interface displays one or more notifications, each associated with activity in documents stored by the document system, and orders the notifications by document, by date, by filter, or any other suitable factor. The user may assign a priority to each document or folder such that notifications associated with documents or folders with a higher priority are displayed before those associated with a lower priority. The notifications may include portions of comment threads, and a user can reply to a comment thread via a response element of the notification interface. The user&#39;s reply is incorporated into the comment thread and stored by the document system.

TECHNICAL FIELD

The disclosed embodiments generally relate to document editing, andspecifically to comment thread modification in a notification interface.

BACKGROUND

Online sharing and collaboration of documents is typically provided by anetwork-based file sharing computer system that allows multiple users toaccess and edit the files. Generally, documents are created and editedby a specific type of native application, such as a word processor orspreadsheet application. Many such applications provide support forco-editing a single document among many users.

When collaborating on a document, different users may work on the singledocument at different times throughout the day instead of workingsimultaneously. Because not all users are looking at the document at thesame time, a user who needs feedback from a team member before beingable to continue working on the document may leave a new comment on thedocument and then be forced to wait for feedback from the team member,which decreases workflow efficiency. In addition, many users prefer toedit documents from a desktop or a laptop with large screen and physicalkeyboard over a mobile device which has a limited display area and avirtual keyboard. As a result, the team member who needs to respond tothe new comment may choose not to respond until the team member hasaccess to a desktop or laptop, causing further delay.

Although it may be difficult to do substantial editing on a documentfrom mobile devices, mobile devices can be a useful tool for respondingto comments. Because mobile devices are portable and users check theirmobile devices frequently, mobile devices can be used to respond quicklyto comments made by other team members, allowing the other team members(who otherwise may be waiting for such feedback) to continue working. Byproviding a convenient interface for the mobile device that allows easynavigation between comment threads and editing comment threads from anotification interface, users can respond to comments more quickly,workflow productivity can increase, and the time to complete acollaborative project may decrease.

SUMMARY

A document system stores a collaborative document and tracks activitywithin comment threads associated with portions of the document. Whenactivity within a comment thread associated with a portion of thedocument is detected, the document system generates a correspondingnotification for display by a client device. The client device presentsthe notification, which identifies the document, the comment thread, andthe detected activity. The notification is presented within anotification interface of the client device and the notificationinterface may present notifications associated with activitycorresponding to additional documents stored by the document system.

A user may interact with the notification displayed within thenotification interface of the client device. For instance, thenotification interface may include a response interface element that isconfigured to receive textual input from the user, such as a reply tothe identified activity within the comment thread. The client device canprovide the textual input to the document system, which can store thetextual input as a comment within the comment thread.

The notifications displayed in the notification interface of the clientdevice may be organized according to the user's preference. Forinstance, the notifications can be grouped and presented based on thedocuments associated with the notifications, based on a priorityspecified by the user, based on a ranking generated by the documentsystem (for instance, based on information within a user profile), basedon a user's past interactions with the documents or other usersassociated with the notifications, and based on a notification type. Forexample, notifications that are associated with documents of highimportance can be displayed before notifications associated withdocuments of lower importance. In other embodiments, the notificationscan be organized based on users, folders, tags, tasks, or datesassociated with the notifications.

It should be noted that while reference is made herein to mobile devicenotifications, the notification concepts described herein can beimplemented in any context including non-mobile contexts (e.g., within aweb browser on a desktop computer).

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

FIG. 1 shows a diagram of a system environment of a content managementsystem and a collaborative content management system, according toexample embodiments.

FIG. 2 shows a block diagram of components of a client device, accordingto example embodiments.

FIG. 3 shows a block diagram of a content management system, accordingto example embodiments.

FIG. 4 shows a block diagram of a collaborative content managementsystem, according to example embodiments.

FIG. 5A through 5D illustrate the navigation of new comments in acollaborative content item, according to example embodiments.

FIG. 6A through 6C illustrate the navigation between comment threads,according to example embodiments.

FIG. 7 is a flow chart that illustrates a process of navigating throughnew comments within a collaborative content item, according to exampleembodiments.

FIG. 8 is a flow chart that illustrates a process of navigating throughcomment threads, according to example embodiments.

FIGS. 9A through 9C illustrate comment thread management via anotification interface, according to example embodiments.

FIG. 10 is a flow chart that illustrates a process of responding to acomment thread via a notification interface, according to exampleembodiments.

The figures depict various embodiments of the present invention forpurposes of illustration only. One skilled in the art will readilyrecognize from the following description that other alternativeembodiments of the structures and methods illustrated herein may beemployed without departing from the principles of the inventiondescribed herein.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

System Overview

FIG. 1 shows a system environment including content management system100, collaborative content management system 130, and client devices 120a, 120 b, and 120 c (collectively or individually “120”). Contentmanagement system 100 provides functionality for sharing content itemswith one or more client devices 120 and synchronizing content itemsbetween content management system 100 and one or more client devices120.

The content stored by content management system 100 can include any typeof content items, such as documents, spreadsheets, collaborative contentitems, text files, audio files, image files, video files, webpages,executable files, binary files, placeholder files that reference othercontent items, etc. In some implementations, a content item can be aportion of another content item, such as an image that is included in adocument. Content items can also include collections, such as folders,namespaces, playlists, albums, etc., that group other content itemstogether. The content stored by content management system 100 may beorganized in one configuration in folders, tables, or in other databasestructures (e.g., object oriented, key/value etc.).

In some embodiments, the content stored by content management system 100includes content items created by using third party applications, e.g.,word processors, video and image editors, database management systems,spreadsheet applications, code editors, and so forth, which areindependent of content management system 100.

In some embodiments, content stored by content management system 100includes content items, e.g., collaborative content items, created usinga collaborative interface provided by collaborative content managementsystem 130. In various implementations, collaborative content items canbe stored by collaborative content item management system 130, withcontent management system 100, or external to content management system100. A collaborative interface can provide an interactive content itemcollaborative platform whereby multiple users can simultaneously createand edit collaborative content items, comment in the collaborativecontent items, and manage tasks within the collaborative content items.

Users may create accounts at content management system 100 and storecontent thereon by sending such content from client device 120 tocontent management system 100. The content can be provided by users andassociated with user accounts that may have various privileges. Forexample, privileges can include permissions to: see content item titles,see other metadata for the content item (e.g. location data, accesshistory, version history, creation/modification dates, comments, filehierarchies, etc.), read content item contents, modify content itemmetadata, modify content of a content item, comment on a content item,read comments by others on a content item, or grant or remove contentitem permissions for other users.

Client devices 120 communicate with content management system 100 andcollaborative content management system 130 through network 110. Thenetwork may be any suitable communications network for datatransmission. In some embodiments, network 110 is the Internet and usesstandard communications technologies and/or protocols. Thus, network 110can include links using technologies such as Ethernet, 802.11, worldwideinteroperability for microwave access (WiMAX), 3G, 4G, digitalsubscriber line (DSL), asynchronous transfer mode (ATM), InfiniBand, PCIExpress Advanced Switching, etc. Similarly, the networking protocolsused on network 110 can include multiprotocol label switching (MPLS),the transmission control protocol/Internet protocol (TCP/IP), the UserDatagram Protocol (UDP), the hypertext transport protocol (HTTP), thesimple mail transfer protocol (SMTP), the file transfer protocol (FTP),etc. The data exchanged over network 110 can be represented usingtechnologies and/or formats including the hypertext markup language(HTML), the extensible markup language (XML), JavaScript Object Notation(JSON), etc. In addition, all or some of links can be encrypted usingconventional encryption technologies such as the secure sockets layer(SSL), transport layer security (TLS), virtual private networks (VPNs),Internet Protocol security (IPsec), etc. In some embodiments, theentities use custom and/or dedicated data communications technologiesinstead of, or in addition to, the ones described above.

In some embodiments, content management system 100 and collaborativecontent management system 130 are combined into a single system. Thesystem may include one or more servers configured to provide thefunctionality discussed herein for the systems 100 and 130.

Client Device

FIG. 2 shows a block diagram of the components of a client device 120according to some embodiments. Client devices 120 generally includedevices and modules for communicating with content management system 100and a user of client device 120. Client device 120 includes display 210for providing information to the user, and in certain client devices 120includes a touchscreen. Client device 120 also includes networkinterface 220 for communicating with content management system 100 vianetwork 110. There are additional components that may be included inclient device 120 but that are not shown, for example, one or morecomputer processors, local fixed memory (RAM and ROM), as well asoptionally removable memory (e.g., SD-card), power sources, andaudio-video outputs.

In certain embodiments, client device 120 includes additional componentssuch as camera 230 and location module 240. Location module 240determines the location of client device 120, using, for example, aglobal positioning satellite signal, cellular tower triangulation, orother methods. Location module 240 may be used by client application 200to obtain location data and add the location data to metadata about acontent item.

Client devices 120 maintain various types of components and modules foroperating the client device and accessing content management system 100.The software modules can include operating system 250 or a collaborativecontent item editor 270. Collaborative content item editor 270 isconfigured for creating, viewing and modifying collaborative contentitems such as text documents, code files, mixed media files (e.g., textand graphics), presentations or the like. Operating system 250 on eachdevice provides a local file management system and executes the varioussoftware modules such as content management system client application200 and collaborative content item editor 270. A contact directory 290stores information on the user's contacts, such as name, telephonenumbers, company, email addresses, physical address, website URLs, andthe like.

Client devices 120 access content management system 100 andcollaborative content management system 130 in a variety of ways. Clientdevice 120 may access these systems through a native application orsoftware module, such as content management system client application200. Client device 120 may also access content management system 100through web browser 260. As an alternative, the client application 200may integrate access to content management system 100 with the localfile management system provided by operating system 250. When access tocontent management system 100 is integrated in the local file managementsystem, a file organization scheme maintained at the content managementsystem is represented at the client device 120 as a local file structureby operating system 250 in conjunction with client application 200.

Client application 200 manages access to content management system 100and collaborative content management system 130. Client application 200includes user interface module 202 that generates an interface to thecontent accessed by client application 200 and is one means forperforming this function. The generated interface is provided to theuser by display 210. Client application 200 may store content accessedfrom a content storage at content management system 100 in local content204. While represented here as within client application 200, localcontent 204 may be stored with other data for client device 120 innon-volatile storage. When local content 204 is stored this way, thecontent is available to the user and other applications or modules, suchas collaborative content item editor 270, when client application 200 isnot in communication with content management system 100. Content accessmodule 206 manages updates to local content 204 and communicates withcontent management system 100 to synchronize content modified by clientdevice 120 with content maintained on content management system 100, andis one means for performing this function. Client application 200 maytake various forms, such as a stand-alone application, an applicationplug-in, or a browser extension.

Content Management System

FIG. 3 shows a block diagram of the content management system 100according to some embodiments. To facilitate the various contentmanagement services, a user can create an account with contentmanagement system 100. The account information can be maintained in useraccount database 316, and is one means for performing this function.User account database 316 can store profile information for registeredusers. In some cases, the only personal information in the user profileis a username and/or email address. However, content management system100 can also be configured to accept additional user information, suchas password recovery information, demographics information, paymentinformation, and other details. Each user is associated with a userIDand a user name. For purposes of convenience, references herein toinformation such as collaborative content items or other data being“associated” with a user are understood to mean an association between acollaborative content item and either of the above forms of useridentifier for the user. Similarly, data processing operations oncollaborative content items and users are understood to be operationsperformed on derivative identifiers such as collaborativeContentItemIDand userIDs. For example, a user may be associated with a collaborativecontent item by storing the information linking the userID and thecollaborativeContentItemID in a table, file, or other storage formats.For example, a database table organized by collaborativeContentItemIDscan include a column listing the userID of each user associated with thecollaborative content item. As another example, for each userID, a filecan list a set of collaborativeContentItemID associated with the user.As another example, a single file can list key values pairs such as<userID, collaborativeContentItemID> representing the associationbetween an individual user and a collaborative content item. The sametypes of mechanisms can be used to associate users with comments,threads, text elements, formatting attributes, and the like.

User account database 316 can also include account managementinformation, such as account type, e.g. free or paid; usage informationfor each user, e.g., file usage history; maximum storage spaceauthorized; storage space used; content storage locations; securitysettings; personal configuration settings; content sharing data; etc.Account management module 304 can be configured to update and/or obtainuser account details in user account database 316. Account managementmodule 304 can be configured to interact with any number of othermodules in content management system 100.

An account can be used to store content items, such as collaborativecontent items, audio files, video files, etc., from one or more clientdevices associated with the account. Content items can be shared withmultiple users and/or user accounts. In some implementations, sharing acontent item can include associating, using sharing module 310, thecontent item with two or more user accounts and providing for userpermissions so that a user that has authenticated into one of theassociated user accounts has a specified level of access to the contentitem. That is, the content items can be shared across multiple clientdevices of varying type, capabilities, operating systems, etc. Thecontent items can also be shared across varying types of user accounts.

Individual users can be assigned different access privileges to acontent item shared with them, as discussed above. In some cases, auser's permissions for a content item can be explicitly set for thatuser. A user's permissions can also be set based on: a type or categoryassociated with the user (e.g., elevated permissions for administratorusers or manager), the user's inclusion in a group or being identifiedas part of an organization (e.g., specified permissions for all membersof a particular team), and/or a mechanism or context of a user'saccesses to a content item (e.g., different permissions based on wherethe user is, what network the user is on, what type of program or APIthe user is accessing, whether the user clicked a link to the contentitem, etc.). Additionally, permissions can be set by default for users,user types/groups, or for various access mechanisms and contexts.

In some implementations, shared content items can be accessible to arecipient user without requiring authentication into a user account.This can include sharing module 310 providing access to a content itemthrough activation of a link associated with the content item orproviding access through a globally accessible shared folder.

The content can be stored in content storage 318, which is one means forperforming this function. Content storage 318 can be a storage device,multiple storage devices, or a server. Alternatively, content storage318 can be a cloud storage provider or network storage accessible viaone or more communications networks. In one configuration, contentmanagement system 100 stores the content items in the sameorganizational structure as they appear on the client device. However,content management system 100 can store the content items in its ownorder, arrangement, or hierarchy.

Content storage 318 can also store metadata describing content items,content item types, and the relationship of content items to variousaccounts, folders, or groups. The metadata for a content item can bestored as part of the content item or can be stored separately. In oneconfiguration, each content item stored in content storage 318 can beassigned a system-wide unique identifier.

Content storage 318 can decrease the amount of storage space required byidentifying duplicate files or duplicate segments of files. Instead ofstoring multiple copies of an identical content item, content storage318 can store a single copy and then use a pointer or other mechanism tolink the duplicates to the single copy. Similarly, content storage 318stores files using a file version control mechanism that tracks changesto files, different versions of files (such as a diverging versiontree), and a change history. The change history can include a set ofchanges that, when applied to the original file version, produces thechanged file version.

Content management system 100 automatically synchronizes content fromone or more client devices, using synchronization module 312, which isone means for performing this function. The synchronization is platformagnostic. That is, the content is synchronized across multiple clientdevices 120 of varying type, capabilities, operating systems, etc. Forexample, client application 200 synchronizes, via synchronization module312 at content management system 100, content in client device 120'sfile system with the content in an associated user account on system100. Client application 200 synchronizes any changes to content in adesignated folder and its sub-folders with the synchronization module312. Such changes include new, deleted, modified, copied, or moved filesor folders. Synchronization module 312 also provides any changes tocontent associated with client device 120 to client application 200.This synchronizes the local content at client device 120 with thecontent items at content management system 100.

Conflict management module 314 determines whether there are anydiscrepancies between versions of a content item located at differentclient devices 120. For example, when a content item is modified at oneclient device and a second client device, differing versions of thecontent item may exist at each client device. Synchronization module 312determines such versioning conflicts, for example by identifying themodification time of the content item modifications. Conflict managementmodule 314 resolves the conflict between versions by any suitable means,such as by merging the versions, or by notifying the client device ofthe later-submitted version.

A user can also view or manipulate content via a web interface generatedby user interface module 302. For example, the user can navigate in webbrowser 260 to a web address provided by content management system 100.Changes or updates to content in content storage 318 made through theweb interface, such as uploading a new version of a file, aresynchronized back to other client devices 120 associated with the user'saccount. Multiple client devices 120 may be associated with a singleaccount and files in the account are synchronized between each of themultiple client devices 120.

Content management system 100 includes communications interface 300 forinterfacing with various client devices 120, and with other contentand/or service providers via an Application Programming Interface (API),which is one means for performing this function. Certain softwareapplications access content storage 318 via an API on behalf of a user.For example, a software package, such as an app on a smartphone ortablet computing device, can programmatically make calls directly tocontent management system 100, when a user provides credentials, toread, write, create, delete, share, or otherwise manipulate content.Similarly, the API can allow users to access all or part of contentstorage 318 through a web site.

Content management system 100 can also include authenticator module 306,which verifies user credentials, security tokens, API calls, specificclient devices, etc., to determine whether access to requested contentitems is authorized, and is one means for performing this function.Authenticator module 306 can generate one-time use authentication tokensfor a user account. Authenticator module 306 assigns an expirationperiod or date to each authentication token. In addition to sending theauthentication tokens to requesting client devices, authenticator module306 can store generated authentication tokens in authentication tokendatabase 320. After receiving a request to validate an authenticationtoken, authenticator module 306 checks authentication token database 320for a matching authentication token assigned to the user. Once theauthenticator module 306 identifies a matching authentication token,authenticator module 306 determines if the matching authentication tokenis still valid. For example, authenticator module 306 verifies that theauthentication token has not expired or was not marked as used orinvalid. After validating an authentication token, authenticator module306 may invalidate the matching authentication token, such as asingle-use token. For example, authenticator module 306 can mark thematching authentication token as used or invalid, or delete the matchingauthentication token from authentication token database 320.

In some embodiments, content management system 100 includes a contentmanagement module 308 for maintaining a content directory thatidentifies the location of each content item in content storage 318, andallows client applications to request access to content items in thestorage 318, and which is one means for performing this function. Acontent entry in the content directory can also include a contentpointer that identifies the location of the content item in contentstorage 318. For example, the content entry can include a contentpointer designating the storage address of the content item in memory.In some embodiments, the content entry includes multiple contentpointers that point to multiple locations, each of which contains aportion of the content item.

In addition to a content path and content pointer, a content entry insome configurations also includes user account identifier thatidentifies the user account that has access to the content item. In someembodiments, multiple user account identifiers can be associated with asingle content entry indicating that the content item has shared accessby the multiple user accounts.

In some embodiments, the content management system 100 can include amail server module 322. The mail server module 322 can send (andreceive) collaborative content items to (and from) other client devicesusing the collaborative content management system 100. The mail servermodule can also be used to send and receive messages between users inthe content management system.

Collaborative Content Management System

FIG. 4 shows a block diagram of the collaborative content managementsystem 130, according to some embodiments. Collaborative content itemscan be files that users can create and edit using a collaborativecontent items editor 270 and can contain collaborative content itemelements. Collaborative content item elements may include any type ofcontent such as text; images, animations, videos, audio, or othermulti-media; tables; lists; references to external content; programmingcode; tasks; tags or labels; comments; or any other type of content.Collaborative content item elements can be associated with an authoridentifier, attributes, interaction information, comments, sharingusers, etc. Collaborative content item elements can be stored asdatabase entities, which allows for searching and retrieving thecollaborative content items. As with other types of content items,collaborative content items may be shared and synchronized with multipleusers and client devices 120, using sharing 310 and synchronization 312modules of content management system 100. Users operate client devices120 to create and edit collaborative content items, and to sharecollaborative content items with other users of client devices 120.Changes to a collaborative content item by one client device 120 arepropagated to other client devices 120 of users associated with thatcollaborative content item.

In the embodiment of FIG. 1, collaborative content management system 130is shown as separate from content management system 100 and cancommunicate with it to obtain its services. In other embodiments,collaborative content management system 130 is a subsystem of thecomponent of content management system 100 that provides sharing andcollaborative services for various types of content items. User accountdatabase 316 and authentication token database 320 from contentmanagement system 100 are used for accessing collaborative contentmanagement system 130 described herein.

Collaborative content management system 130 can include various serversfor managing access and edits to collaborative content items and formanaging notifications about certain changes made to collaborativecontent items. Collaborative content management system 130 can includeproxy server 402, collaborative content item editor 404, backend server406, and collaborative content item database 408, access link module410, copy generator 412, collaborative content item differentiator 414,settings module 416, metadata module 418, revision module 420,notification server 422, and notification database 424. Proxy server 402handles requests from client applications 200 and passes those requeststo the collaborative content item editor 404. Collaborative content itemeditor 404 manages application level requests for client applications200 for editing and creating collaborative content items, andselectively interacts with backend servers 406 for processing lowerlevel processing tasks on collaborative content items, and interfacingwith collaborative content items database 408 as needed. Collaborativecontent items database 408 contains a plurality of database objectsrepresenting collaborative content items, comment threads, and comments.Each of the database objects can be associated with a content pointerindicating the location of each object within the CCI database 408.Notification server 422 detects actions performed on collaborativecontent items that trigger notifications, creates notifications innotification database 424, and sends notifications to client devices.

Client application 200 sends a request relating to a collaborativecontent item to proxy server 402. Generally, a request indicates theuserID (“UID”) of the user, and the collaborativeContentItemID (“NID”)of the collaborative content item, and additional contextual informationas appropriate, such as the text of the collaborative content item. Whenproxy server 402 receives the request, the proxy server 402 passes therequest to the collaborative content item editor 404. Proxy server 402also returns a reference to the identified collaborative content itemsproxy server 402 to client application 200, so the client applicationcan directly communicate with the collaborative content item editor 404for future requests. In alternative embodiments, client application 200initially communicates directly with a specific collaborative contentitem editor 404 assigned to the userID.

When collaborative content item editor 404 receives a request, itdetermines whether the request can be executed directly or by a backendserver 406. When the request adds, edits, or otherwise modifies acollaborative content item the request is handled by the collaborativecontent item editor 404. If the request is directed to a database orindex inquiry, the request is executed by a backend server 406. Forexample, a request from client device 120 to view a collaborativecontent item or obtain a list of collaborative content items responsiveto a search term is processed by backend server 406.

The access module 410 receives a request to provide a collaborativecontent item to a client device. In some embodiments, the access modulegenerates an access link to the collaborative content item, for instancein response to a request to share the collaborative content item by anauthor. The access link can be a hyperlink including or associated withthe identification information of the CCI (i.e., unique identifier,content pointer, etc.). The hyperlink can also include any type ofrelevant metadata within the content management system (i.e., author,recipient, time created, etc.). In some embodiments, the access modulecan also provide the access link to user accounts via the network 110,while in other embodiments the access link can be provided or madeaccessible to a user account and is accessed through a user account viathe client device. In some embodiments, the access link will be ahyperlink to a landing page (e.g., a webpage, a digital store front, anapplication login, etc.) and activating the hyperlink opens the landingpage on a client device. The landing page can allow client devices notassociated with a user account to create a user account and access thecollaborative content item using the identification informationassociated with the access link. Additionally, the access link modulecan insert metadata into the collaborative content item, associatemetadata with the collaborative content item, or access metadataassociated with the collaborative content item that is requested.

The access module 410 can also provide collaborative content items viaother methods. For example, the access module 410 can directly send acollaborative content item to a client device or user account, store acollaborative content item in a database accessible to the clientdevice, interact with any module of the collaborative content managementsystem to provide modified versions of collaborative content items(e.g., the copy generator 412, the CCI differentiator 414, etc.),sending content pointer associated with the collaborative content item,sending metadata associated with the collaborative content item, or anyother method of providing collaborative content items between devices inthe network. The access module can also provide collaborative contentitems via a search of the collaborative content item database (i.e.,search by a keyword associated with the collaborative content item, thetitle, or a metadata tag, etc.).

The copy generator 412 can duplicate a collaborative content item.Generally, the copy generator duplicates a collaborative content itemwhen a client device selects an access link associated with thecollaborative content item. The copy generator 412 accesses thecollaborative content item associated with the access link and creates aderivative copy of the collaborative content item for every requestreceived. The copy generator 412 stores each derivative copy of thecollaborative content item in the collaborative content item database408. Generally, each copy of the collaborative content item that isgenerated by the copy generator 412 is associated with both the clientdevice from which the request was received and the user accountassociated with the client device requesting the copy. When the copy ofthe collaborative content item is generated it can create a new uniqueidentifier and content pointer for the copy of the collaborative contentitem. Additionally, the copy generator 412 can insert metadata into thecollaborative content item, associate metadata with the copiedcollaborative content item, or access metadata associated with thecollaborative content item that was requested to be copied.

The collaborative content item differentiator 414 determines thedifference between two collaborative content items. In some embodiments,the collaborative content item differentiator 414 determines thedifference between two collaborative content items when a client deviceselects an access hyperlink and accesses a collaborative content itemthat the client device has previously used the copy generator 412 tocreate a derivative copy. The content item differentiator can indicatethe differences between the content elements of the comparedcollaborative content items. The collaborative content itemdifferentiator 414 can create a collaborative content item that includesthe differences between the two collaborative content items, i.e. adifferential collaborative content item. In some embodiments, thecollaborative content item differentiator provides the differentialcollaborative content item to a requesting client device 120. Thedifferentiator 414 can store the differential collaborative content itemin the collaborative content item database 408 and generateidentification information for the differential collaborative contentitem. Additionally, the differentiator 414 can insert metadata into theaccessed and created collaborative content items, associate metadatawith the accessed and created collaborative content item, or accessmetadata associated with the collaborative content items that wererequested to be differentiated.

The settings and security module 416 can manage security duringinteractions between client devices 120, the content management system100, and the collaborative content management system 130. Additionally,the settings and security module 416 can manage security duringinteractions between modules of the collaborative content managementsystem. For example, when a client device 120 attempts to interactwithin any module of the collaborative content management system 100,the settings and security module 416 can manage the interaction bylimiting or disallowing the interaction. Similarly, the settings andsecurity module 416 can limit or disallow interactions between modulesof the collaborative content management system 130. Generally, thesettings and security module 416 accesses metadata associated with themodules, systems 100 and 130, devices 120, user accounts, andcollaborative content items to determine the security actions to take.Security actions can include: requiring authentication of client devices120 and user accounts, requiring passwords for content items, removingmetadata from collaborative content items, preventing collaborativecontent items from being edited, revised, saved or copied, or any othersecurity similar security action. Additionally, settings and securitymodule can access, add, edit or delete any type of metadata associatedwith any element of content management system 100, collaborative contentmanagement system 130, client devices 120, or collaborative contentitems.

The metadata module 418 manages metadata within with the collaborativecontent management system. Generally, metadata can take three formswithin the collaborative content management system: internal metadata,external metadata, and device metadata. Internal metadata is metadatawithin a collaborative content item, external metadata is metadataassociated with a CCI but not included or stored within the CCI itself,and device metadata is associated with client devices. At any point themetadata module can manage metadata by changing, adding, or removingmetadata.

Some examples of internal metadata can be: identifying informationwithin collaborative content items (e.g., email addresses, names,addresses, phone numbers, social security numbers, account or creditcard numbers, etc.); metadata associated with content elements (e.g.,location, time created, content element type; content element size;content element duration, etc.); comments associated with contentelements (e.g., a comment giving the definition of a word in acollaborative content item and its attribution to the user account thatmade the comment); or any other metadata that can be contained within acollaborative content item.

Some examples of external metadata can be: content tags indicatingcategories for the metadata; user accounts associated with a CCI (e.g.,author user account, editing user account, accessing user account etc.);historical information (e.g., previous versions, access times, edittimes, author times, etc.); security settings; identifying information(e.g., unique identifier, content pointer); collaborative contentmanagement system 130 settings; user account settings; or any othermetadata that can be associated with the collaborative content item.

Some examples of device metadata can be: device type; deviceconnectivity; device size; device functionality; device sound anddisplay settings; device location; user accounts associated with thedevice; device security settings; or any other type of metadata that canbe associated with a client device 120.

The collaborative content item revision module 420 manages applicationlevel requests for client applications 200 for revising differntialcollaborative content items and selectively interacts with backendservers 406 for processing lower level processing tasks on collaborativecontent items, and interfacing with collaborative content items database408 as needed. The revision module can create a revised collaborativecontent item that is some combination of the content elements from thedifferential collaborative content item. The revision module 420 canstore the revised collaborative content item in the collaborativecontent item database or provide the revised collaborative content itemto a client device 120. Additionally, the revision module 420 can insertmetadata into the accessed and created collaborative content items,associate metadata with the accessed and created collaborative contentitem, or access metadata associated with the collaborative content itemsthat were requested to be differentiated.

Content management system 100 and collaborative content managementsystem 130 may be implemented using a single computer, or a network ofcomputers, including cloud-based computer implementations. Theoperations of content management system 100 and collaborative contentmanagement system 130 as described herein can be controlled througheither hardware or through computer programs installed in computerstorage and executed by the processors of such server to perform thefunctions described herein. These systems include other hardwareelements necessary for the operations described here, including networkinterfaces and protocols, input devices for data entry, and outputdevices for display, printing, or other presentations of data, but whichare not described herein. Similarly, conventional elements, such asfirewalls, load balancers, collaborative content items servers, failoverservers, network management tools and so forth are not shown so as notto obscure the features of the system. Finally, the functions andoperations of content management system 100 and collaborative contentmanagement system 130 are sufficiently complex as to requireimplementation on a computer system, and cannot be performed in thehuman mind simply by mental steps.

New Comment Navigation

Because the display screen of a mobile device may be small, it can beuseful to implement a comment interface that displays one comment threadat a time in conjunction with showing a portion of a documentcorresponding to a displayed comment thread in a document interface. Forinstance, the comment interface may be overlaid on top of the documentinterface, the document interface can be shrunk and displayed above thecomment interface, and the like. Throughout the course of a project,there may be many comments in many comment threads within a document,and it can save time to allow the user to navigate through only thecomment threads including new comments that have been added since thelast time the user accessed the document.

FIG. 5A through 5D illustrate the navigation of new comments in acollaborative content item, according to example embodiments. Thecollaborative content item 500 is a document that can be edited ormodified to include different types of data such as text data, imagedata, video data, URLs, structured data, unstructured data, and thelike. The collaborative content item 500 may be accessed and edited byusers who are invited by an owner of the collaborative content item toview or edit the collaborative content item, respectively. To add acomment thread to the collaborative content item, a portion of data inthe collaborative content item is selected, and a comment that isrelated to the selected portion of data is added. As used herein, acomment thread is a collection of comments related to the portion of thedocument made by users of the collaborative content item. As usedherein, a comment is content (such as text or images) entered by anauthor in association with a portion of a document, for instance withina comment interface different from a document interface. The commentthread may be modified by adding a new comment or a response to anexisting comment to the comment thread. In a collaborative content item,there may be a plurality of comment threads, each associated with adifferent portion of data in the collaborative content item 500. When auser accesses a collaborative content item 500 with a new or modifiedcomment thread, the document interface may initially display thecollaborative content item 500 within a document interface withoutdisplaying a dedicated comment interface. The portions of data within adocument corresponding to comment threads may be indicated within thedocument interface using one or more visual features to differentiatethe portions from portions of the collaborative content item 500 thatare not associated with a comment thread. For instance, portions of thecollaborative content items associated with comment threads can beunderlined, highlighted, bolded, indicated using a different font color,and the like. To further differentiate comment threads that contain atleast one new comment from comment threads without new activity,portions of the collaborative content item that correspond to a commentthread that includes at least one new comment may be indicated using oneor more visual features not included in portions of the collaborativecontent item corresponding to comment threads without new activity.

Each comment thread of the plurality of comment threads may be assignedan index that represents an order of the comment threads, and the indexmay be displayed with a portion of the collaborative content itemassociated with the comment thread. In the example of FIG. 5A, the indexis displayed by overlaying numerical text over the collaborative contentitem next to the portion of the collaborative content item associatedwithin the comment thread. In some example embodiments, the index isassigned based on the position of the portion of the collaborativecontent item corresponding to a comment thread relative to the top ofthe collaborative content item 500. In the embodiments included herein,each comment thread (such as comment thread 530) is associated with anindex (such as the number “1”), though in other embodiments, the numericcomment thread display elements are not included and instead, commentthreads are indicated by other means (such as underlining, bold font,italicized font, highlighted text, etc.)

As shown in FIGS. 5A through 5D, there are four comment threads: a firstcomment thread 530, a second comment thread 540, a third comment thread550, and a fourth comment thread 560. In the example shown in FIG. 5A,the text “Now we are engaged in a great civil war . . . can long endure”is associated with the first comment thread 530 assigned to the index“1” because the text is closest to the top of the document. However, ifa new comment thread corresponding to the text 570, “all men are createdequal,” is added, the new comment thread may be assigned to the index“1” because the position of the text 570 is now closest to the top ofcollaborative content item 500. Accordingly, the indexes associated withthe remaining comment threads are incremented by one (e.g., the indexassigned to the first comment thread 530 is updated to “2”). In theexample shown in FIG. 5A, the order of the comment threads are displayedon the document interface, but in other examples, the order informationmay be maintained and updated by the collaborative content managementsystem but not displayed to the user in the document interface.

In other example embodiments, the order of the comment threads may bebased on the position of the comment threads relative to the position ofthe user's last edit or last viewed word in the document. Thecollaborative content management system may keep track of the user'scursor and/or track the position in the collaborative content item thatthe user interacts with before exiting the client application. The orderof the comment threads that include a new comment may be assigned suchthat a comment thread corresponding to a portion of the collaborativecontent item that is closest in position to the tracked position isassigned the index “1.” The remaining comment threads are indexedsequentially according to position after the tracked position within thecollaborative content item until the bottom of the document is reached,after which the indexing of comment threads continues from the start ofthe collaborative content item.

In the example shown in FIG. 5A, a new comment interface element 520indicates that there are 3 new comments since the user last viewed thecollaborative content item 500. The first comment thread 530 has a firstnew comment, the third comment thread 550 has a second new comment, andthe fourth comment thread 560 has a third new comment. The new commentinterface element 520 indicating the number of new comments may belocated at the bottom of the document interface 500 as in FIG. 5A or maybe located at any other location on the document interface 500. The newcomment interface element 520 may be movable, and the user may be abledrag and drop the new comment interface element 520 to a desiredposition within the document interface 500. The new comment interfaceelement 520 may be locked into the desired position on the documentinterface 500 and may not move when the user looks at a differentportion of the collaborative content item 500 than what is initiallydisplayed. For example, the user may scroll to a lower portion of thecollaborative content item by swiping the touch screen of the mobiledevice, and the new comment interface element 520 may remain at thebottom of the document interface 500 as shown in FIG. 5A.

Turning to FIG. 5B, when a user interacts with the new comment interfaceelement 520, the comment interface 580 may appear over the documentinterface 500 to display the first new comment 535. The user mayinteract with the new comment interface element 520 by, for instance,tapping on the display screen of the mobile device or may use a voicecommand function of the mobile device to access the new commentinterface element 520. When the first new comment 535 that is includedin the first comment thread 530 is displayed, the new comment interfaceelement 520 is updated from “3 new” to “2 new” as shown in FIG. 5B.

In alternative example embodiments, the new comment interface element520 displays a number of new comments within the collaborative contentitem (as opposed to the number of comment threads that include newcomment activity). Continuing with such embodiments, suppose two newcomments are made on the first comment thread 530. In this case, whenthe user interacts with the new comment interface element 520, the twonew comments are displayed in the comment interface 580 and the newcomment interface element 520 is updated from “3 new” to “1 new.”Returning to FIG. 5B, the comment interface 580 may be overlaid on topof the document interface 500 and displayed along with a portion of thecollaborative content item 500 corresponding to the first comment thread530 (the text “Now we are engaged . . . ”). The first comment thread 530may include a plurality of comments, and there may not be enough spaceto display all of the comments simultaneously within the commentinterface 580. As such, the collaborative content management system mayselect a subset of the plurality of comments to display. In the exampleshown in FIG. 5B, the first two comments of the comment thread aredisplayed and the remaining 5 comments are condensed into an additionalcomment interface element 594. The user may click on the additionalcomment interface element 594 which is represented by the text “5 morecomments” to display the 5 additional comments within the commentinterface 580 (e.g., the user may have to scroll down the displayedcomments to see the 5 additional comments).

In example embodiments, the size of the comment interface 580 may beadjusted. For instance, the user may drag the top edge of the commentinterface 580 upward to increase the size of the comment interface 580or drag the top edge of the comment interface 580 downward to decreasethe size of the comment interface. The user may also interact with otherresizing display elements (not shown in FIG. 5B). The user may enlargethe size of the comment interface 580 such that more of the firstcomment thread 530 may be displayed at a time. Since the display screenof the mobile device has a fixed size, the size of the documentinterface is also adjusted to compensate for the change in the size ofthe comment interface. When the size of the comment interface 580 isincreased, the size of the document interface 500 is made smaller tocompensate. Similarly, when the size of the comment interface 580 isdecreased, the size of the document interface 500 is increased. With thechange in the size of the document interface 500, the visual features ofthe content displayed within the document interface 500 may be adjustedas well. If the collaborative content item contains only text, the fontsize of the text displayed in the document interface 500 may beadjusted. If the collaborative content item also includes other types ofdata such as images, the size of the images in the collaborative contentitem may be scaled according to the adjustment. Instead of changing thevisual features of the content displayed within the document interface,a smaller portion of the collaborative content item may be displayedwithin the document interface 500.

The comment interface 580 may have comment navigation arrows 590. Thecomment navigation arrows 590 allows the user to navigate through thecomment threads within the collaborative content item (as opposed tointeracting with the new comment interface element, which allows a userto navigate through comment threads with new comment activity). Thecomment navigation arrows 590 will be discussed in detail with respectto FIG. 6A through 6C.

As shown in FIG. 5C, when the user interacts with the new commentinterface element 520 a second time, the comment interface 580 isupdated to display the second new comment, which is included in thethird comment thread 550. In the example shown in FIG. 5A through 5D,the second comment thread 540 does not include new comment activity, andaccordingly, after displaying the first new comment 535 in the firstcomment thread 530 within the comment interface 580, interacting withthe new comment interface element 520 causes the second comment thread540 to be skipped and the third comment thread 550 to be displayedwithin the comment interface.

In example embodiments, the user may view a new comment but may wish toreturn to the new comment at a later time after viewing the new comment.Although not shown in FIG. 5C, the comment interface 580 may have anoption to mark the second new comment as new after the user has viewedthe second new comment. When the user marks the second new comment asnew, the number of new comments is incremented by one and the newcomment interface element 520 reflects the update and displays “2 new”instead of “1 new.”

When the new comment interface element 520 includes an indication thatonly one comment thread associated with new comment activity remains,interacting with the new comment interface element 520 causes the newcomment interface element 520 to disappear from the document interface500, as shown in FIG. 5D. The comment interface 580 displays a fourthcomment thread 560 which includes the third new comment.

Although the new comment interface element 520 is no longer displayedbecause all the new comments have been read by the user, the user maystill navigate through all the comment threads using the commentnavigation arrows 590 as described below.

Comment Thread Navigation User Interface

FIG. 6A through 6C illustrate the navigation between comment threads,according to example embodiments. As mentioned above, the commentinterface 580 may have comment navigation arrows 590 to allow the userto search through all the comment threads. The collaborative contentmanagement system 130 may order the comment threads, and the user mayview different comment threads in order using the comment navigationarrows 590. The order of the comment threads may be based on theposition of the portions of the collaborative content item correspondingto the comment threads. As discussed above, the order may be based onthe position relative to the top of the collaborative content item, maybe based on reading direction (e.g., right to left for items in the sameline and top to bottom for items not in the same line), or may be basedon the position of the user's last edit or last viewed word in thecollaborative content item. Each comment thread of the plurality ofcomment threads may be assigned an index that represents the order ofthe comment threads.

In example embodiments, the collaborative content management system 130may order a subset of comment threads instead of all the commentthreads. The subset of comment threads may be selected based onfiltering criteria selected by the user. For example, the user may onlywish to view the comment threads that the user previously edited.Similarly, the user may wish to view comment threads that were edited bya particular user of the team, comment threads that the user previouslyviewed, comment threads associated with particular document portions,comment threads associated with a particular subject matter, and thelike. In such embodiments, the user can navigate between only the subsetof comment threads (e.g., all comment threads in which the user haspreviously edited) as opposed to all comment threads in thecollaborative content item.

The comment navigation system described herein can beneficially allowfor a user to navigate between comment threads, which is different fromcomment navigation in traditional word processing applications. Typicalcomment navigation in such applications involves navigating throughindividual comments one at a time instead of through comment threads. Byallowing navigation through comment threads, the time it takes for auser to review comments in a collaborative content item may decrease, itmay be easier for the user to find a particular comment, and the user'sexperience with navigating through a comment interface (particularly amobile comment interface) may improve.

In FIG. 6A, the first comment thread 530 is displayed in the commentinterface 580, and the first comment thread 530 includes a first newcomment 610. A first subset of the plurality of comments in the firstcomment thread 530 are selected and displayed in the comment interface580. The first subset of the plurality of comments in the first commentthread 530 includes the first two comments of the first comment thread530 and the first new comment 610. In the various embodiments, the firstnew comment 610 may be visually distinguishable from the other commentsin the first comment thread 530. In the example shown in FIG. 6A, thefirst new comment 610 has bolded font and is surrounded by a box inorder to distinguish it from comments that aren't new. In otherexamples, the first new comment 610 may be highlighted and/or may bedisplayed in a different font color.

In FIG. 6B, a different subset of comments within the first commentthread 530 is displayed in the comment interface 580. The user mayinteract with the scroll bar 592 in a vertical direction or swipeupwards/downwards to view the different subset of comments (e.g.,scrolling up/down). In FIG. 6B, the first new comment 610 is notvisually distinguishable from the other comments in the first commentthread 530. The visual features applied to the first new comment 610 inFIG. 6A may fade and disappear over time (e.g., 3 seconds) or after auser first views the first new comment, after which the first newcomment 610 may look like the other comments in the first comment thread530.

In FIG. 6C, the second comment thread 540 is displayed in the commentinterface 580. The second comment thread 540 immediately follows thefirst comment thread 530 in the ordered set of comments and is accessedby using the comment navigation arrows 590. For instance, when thecomment interface 580 displays the first comment thread 530 as shown inFIG. 6B, the user may interact with the right comment navigation arrow590 to view the second comment thread. In other example embodiments, theuser may request to view the second comment thread by swiping,scrolling, or otherwise interacting with the comment interface 580 in ahorizontal direction. Responsive to the user's interaction with thecomment interface 580, the comment interface 580 is updated to displaythe second comment thread 540 and the document interface displays aportion of the collaborative content item that corresponds to the secondcomment thread 540.

In alternative example embodiments, when the comment interface 580displays the first comment thread 530 as shown in FIG. 6B, the user mayinteract with the left comment navigation arrow 590 to view a precedingcomment thread. Since there are no comment threads that precede thefirst comment thread, the comment interface 580 may “wrap around” thecomment threads and display the last comment thread (e.g., the commentthread with the highest index).

In the example shown in FIG. 6C, the second comment thread 540 does notinclude a new comment. Therefore, when the user requests the display ofthe second comment thread 540, the count of new comments displayedwithin the new comment interface element 520 remains unchanged. However,if the second comment thread 540 were to include a new comment, the newcomment interface element 520 would be updated from “2 New” to “1 New.”It should be noted that the comment navigation system described hereincan beneficially allow for a user to navigate within a comment threadusing an interaction associated with a first direction (e.g., swiping upand down) while allowing the user to navigate between comment threadsusing an interaction associated with a second direction (e.g., swipingleft and right, selecting the left and right comment navigation arrows590).

FIG. 7 is a flow chart that illustrates a process of navigating throughnew comments within a collaborative content item, according to exampleembodiments. A device displays 710 a document within a documentinterface 500 displayed by a client device of a user, the documentincluding one or more comment threads that have changed since the userlast viewed the document. The device displays 720 a first interfaceelement within the document interface 500, the first interface elementdisplaying a number of the comment threads that have changed since theuser last viewed the document. When the first interface elements isinteracted with, the device displays 730 a next comment thread that haschanged since the user last viewed the document within a commentinterface. In response to the number of remaining comment threads thathave changed since a user last viewed the document being greater thanone, the number of the comment threads that have changed since the userlast viewed the document displayed within the first interface element isdecremented 740 by one. In response to the number of remaining commentthreads that have changed since a user last viewed the document beingequal to one, the first interface element, when interacted with, isremoved 750 from within the document interface 500.

FIG. 8 is a flow chart that illustrates a process of navigating throughcomment threads, according to example embodiments. A device displays810, within a comment interface displayed by a client device, a firstcomment thread corresponding to a first portion of a document. Thedevice receives 820, via the client device, a request to view a secondcomment thread 820. In response to receiving the request, the devicemodifies 830 the comment interface to display the second comment thread.In response to receiving the request, the device also modifies 840 thedocument interface 500 to display a second portion of the documentcorresponding to the second comment thread.

Notification Interface

When a user with access to a collaborative content item stored by acontent management system comments within or otherwise contributes to acomment thread stored by the content management system, the contentmanagement system detects the activity and updates the comment thread toreflect the activity. For instance, if the user comments within thecomment thread, the content management system updates the stored commentthread to include the text of the user's comment. Likewise, if the useradds an image to the comment thread, the content management systemstores the image in conjunction with the updated comment thread. Whenanother user subsequently views the comment thread, the updated commentthread (including the added comment, image, etc.) is visible.Accordingly, as noted above, comment threads can enable communicationand collaboration between users in conjunction with a collaborativecontent item.

Upon detecting activity within a comment thread, the content managementsystem can generate a notification in response to the detected activity,and can provide the generated notification to one or more client devicesassociated with users with access to the collaborative content item fordisplay within a notification interface. The notification can identifythe corresponding document, the identity of users associated with thedetected activity, the portion of the document associated within thecomment thread, and the like. The notification can thus enable a user toquickly identify a change to comment thread content without requiringthe user to access the entire document, to search through the documentto locate the comment thread, and to determine if content of the commentthread has changed.

FIGS. 9A through 9C illustrate comment thread management via anotification interface, according to example embodiments.

FIG. 9A illustrates a notification interface 900 of a client device,according to example embodiments. The notification interface 900displays notifications for a first document 920 (i.e., “The GettysburgAddress.doc”) and a second document 970 (i.e., “First InauguralAddress.doc”) stored by a content management system 100. Thenotifications may be sorted and organized by file 905, by date 910, byfilter 915, or by other suitable organization methods. In someembodiments, the notification interface 900 is a mobile device operatingsystem notification interface, and may present additional notificationsassociated with activities within applications unrelated to the contentmanagement system 100 stored on the client device (e.g., messagingapplications, social media applications, mobile device updates). Inother embodiments, the notification interface 900 is an interfacedisplayed by a native application of the client device associated with acontent management system 100 and only displays notifications related toactivity within the documents stored by the content management system100.

In the example shown in FIG. 9A, the notifications are organized by file905. In some embodiments, the client device detects activities in thedocuments stored in the content management system 100 and generates apull notification for each detected activity. For example, the firstnotification 930 of the first document 920 identifies the detectedactivity (i.e., “2 New Comments”), identifies the portion of thedocument associated with the first notification 930 (i.e., “Now we areengaged in a great civil war . . . ”), and includes the associatedcomment thread 955. As shown in FIG. 9A, the two new comments aredistinguished from older comments in the comment thread 955 by a boldfont. In other embodiments, other visual indicators such as coloredfonts, highlights, letters that fade over time, and markers may be usedto distinguish new comments from older comments. In the firstnotification 975 associated with the second document 970, the documentis identified and the activity associated with the document (i.e., thecreation of the document by user Abe Lincoln) is displayed. It should benoted that in addition to pull notifications, the content managementsystem can detect activity within stored documents and can generate pushnotifications for each detected activity that are provided to one ormore client devices for display within a notification interface.

The comment thread 955 of the first notification 930 has threeparticipating users: Edward Everett, Abe Lincoln, and George Bancroft.The participating users are represented by a facepile 925. The facepile925 is a collection of images (e.g., profile pictures) corresponding toeach of the users participating in the comment thread 955. The facepile925 allows a viewing user to quickly identify other users that areinvolved with the comment thread 955 without looking through the entirecomment thread 955. In some embodiments, images of users associated withnew comment thread activity are distinguished. For example, the facepile925 may be a stack of the images of users, and the images of usersassociated with new comment thread activity may be at the top of thefacepile (on top of images of other users that are not associated withnew comment thread activity), may be bigger in size than the otherimages, and the like.

The notification interface 900 of a client device operating systeminterface may include a response interface element 960 that allows usersto contribute to the comment thread 955 directly from the notificationinterface 900 without having to access the entire document, for instancefrom the native application of the mobile device. By being able torespond to the comment thread 955 from the notification interface 900 ofthe client device, the user may quickly reply to comment thread activityafter receiving a notification, potentially reducing the time and effortrequired to contribute to a collaborative conversation or to answer aquestion posed within the comment thread. When the user contributes tothe comment thread via the response interface 960, the user's input isprovided to the content management system 100, which is then stored bythe content management system 100 within the comment thread. The inputmay be a textual input, an image, a sound file, a video, a chart, or anyother suitable data. However, if a user instead prefers to review thecomment thread 955 within the native application, the user can interactwith the notification (e.g., touch a portion of the notification), andthe client device can launch or display the document associated with thecomment thread.

The content management system incorporates a user's input within theresponse interface 960 within the comment thread 930 of the document920. For example, if a user provides a textual input to the commentthread 955 from the notification interface 930, the textual input isstored by the content management system 100 and is subsequently shown inthe comment thread 955 when a user with access to the first document 920opens the document and views the comment thread, as shown in FIG. 9B.

Referring back to FIG. 9A, the first document 920 is associated with asecond notification 965 and additional notifications below the secondnotification 965 as indicated by the scroll bar 958. Because displayspace in the notification interface 900 is limited, the full commentthread associated with the second notification 965 is not displayed. Thecomment thread associated with the second notification 965 may bedisplayed when the user interacts with the scroll bar 958. For instance,the first notification 930 and comment thread 955 can roll off thenotification interface 900 until there is enough display space for thecomment thread associated with the second notification 965. In otherembodiments, the presence of additional notifications associated with adocument may be indicated by other visual indicators than the scroll bar958.

In some embodiments, the user may not be interested in receivingnotifications for all detected activities within one or more documentsstored by a content management system 100. In such embodiments, the usermay select the types or characteristics of notifications to receive. Forinstance, the notification interface 900 may include interface elementssuch as a button or a switch for marking a notification as read orunread 935, to mute 940 a notification, to put a notification to “sleep”945 for a period of time, and to flag 950 a notification.

In some embodiments, a notification may be automatically removed fromthe notification interface 900 after a viewing user views or responds toa comment thread associated with detected new activity. In otherembodiments, if a user flags a notification or makes a notification asunread even though the user has viewed or responded to a comment threadassociated with detected new activity, the notification may bemaintained within the notification interface 900.

In some embodiments, the user may decide that a particular commentthread is unimportant and may wish to not receive notifications whensubsequent new activity associated with the comment thread is detected.In such instances, the user may interact with the mute 940 button, whichprevents the user from receiving further notifications about activityassociated with the comment thread. The user may also temporarily orpermanently mute all notifications related to a document, a folder, auser, and a type of notification. In some embodiments, the user may wishto pause notifications from a particular comment thread, document,folder, user, or type of notification for a period of time. For example,a user may want to focus on the second document 970 in order to meet adeadline and may not want to be disturbed by notifications associatedwith the first document 930 until the deadline for the second documenthas passed. The user may interact with the sleep 945 button to pause thenotifications from the first notification 930 and to identify a timeperiod associated with the pause (e.g., 1 hr, 2 hrs, 1 day). When theuser interacts with the sleep button 945, the first notification 930 maydisappear from the notification interface 900 for the identified timeperiod.

If the user of the client device displaying the notification interface900 is following many active documents stored by the content managementsystem 100, the user may receive many notifications. Because displayspace is often limited on a mobile device, it is useful to prioritizedocuments and such that notifications associated with high prioritydocuments are prioritized. The user may rank documents by assigning apriority level to each (e.g., high, medium, low), providing a numericalranking, or dragging and moving the position of documents within thenotification interface 900. If the user does not provide a rankingpreference, the content management system 100 may generate a ranking forthe documents based on the user profile, the user's past interactionswith documents, the user's past interactions with other users, foldersto which documents belong, and the types of notifications, and thecontent management system 100 may generate a ranking for thenotifications based on the ranking for the documents.

The user may also organize notifications by date 910. The notificationsmay be organized chronologically, and the user may identify whether toview older notifications before newer notifications or vice versa. Thedates used to organize the notifications can include a document editdate, a document creation date, a new comment thread activity date, andthe like.

The user may also apply one or more filters 915 to the notificationsdisplayed within the notification interface 900. For instance, the usermay filter the notifications by person, by folder, by tags, by documenttypes, by document ownership, by date, by document authorship, bydocument shared status, or by activity. The user may apply one or morefiltering criteria to the notifications, and the notifications thatmatch the applied filtering criteria can be presented to the user.

FIG. 9B illustrates a modified comment thread in a native application ofthe mobile device, according to example embodiments. When a userprovides an input to a comment thread from the notification interface900 of FIG. 9A (e.g., by providing a textual input within the responseinterface 960 of FIG. 9A), the textual input is stored by the contentmanagement system 100. Using the stored textual input, the contentmanagement system 100 updates the comment thread 955 displayed in thenative application displaying the first document 920.

For example, if Abe Lincoln types “Great!” into the response interface960 in FIG. 9A, the first notification 930 of the first document 920 maydisappear from the notification interface 900 of Abe Lincoln's mobiledevice. The other users with access to the first document may receive anotification on their mobile devices, identifying that Abe Lincoln hasadded a new comment to the comment thread 930. When Abe Lincoln or otherusers with access to the first document 920 open the first document 920using the native application of the mobile device, the textual input 980(e.g., “Great!”) is added to the comment thread 955 and displayed withina comment thread interface of the native application (as shown in FIG.9B).

FIG. 9C illustrates an updated notification interface 900 of a clientdevice, according to example embodiments. In the example shown in FIG.9C, after a user responds to the comment thread 955 from thenotification interface 900, the notification 930 disappears from thenotification interface 900. After the notification 930 is removed fromthe notification interface 900, the second notification 965 is moved upthe notification interface 900 and becomes the first notificationdisplayed within the notification interface 900. The notification 965 isexpanded to include a portion of the comment thread corresponding to thenotification 965 (e.g., the comment 985), and a third notification 990is displayed within the notification interface.

FIG. 10 is a flow chart that illustrates a process of responding to acomment thread via a notification interface, according to exampleembodiments. Activity is detected 1010 within a comment threadassociated with a portion of a document stored by a document system. Forinstance, when a user with access to the document stored by the documentsystem comments within the comment thread, adds an image to the commentthread, or otherwise contributes to the comment thread, the activity isflagged by the document system. The flagged activity can be provided bythe document system to a mobile device in response to being detected bythe document system (e.g., via “push” notification) or in response tobeing requested by the mobile device (e.g., via “pull” notification).After the activity is detected, a mobile device presents 1020 anotification that identifies the document, the comment thread, and thedetected activity. The notification may also include additionalinformation such as identities of users associated with the commentthread and the portion of the document associated with the commentthread. The presented notification is displayed 1030 within anotification interface of the mobile device configured to receive atextual input from a user. The mobile device receives 1040 a textualinput from the user via the notification interface, and the textualinput is provided 1050 to the document system. The document systemstores the textual input as a comment within the comment thread in thedocument. In some embodiments, the mobile device receives other types ofinput from the user, such as image data, video data, URLs, structureddata, unstructured data, and the like.

Additional Considerations

Reference in the specification to “one embodiment” or to “an embodiment”means that a particular feature, structure, or characteristic describedin connection with the embodiments is included in at least oneembodiment. The appearances of the phrase “in one embodiment” in variousplaces in the specification are not necessarily all referring to thesame embodiment.

In this description, the term “module” refers to a physical computerstructure of computational logic for providing the specifiedfunctionality. A module can be implemented in hardware, firmware, and/orsoftware. In regards to software implementation of modules, it isunderstood by those of skill in the art that a module comprises a blockof code that contains the data structure, methods, classes, header andother code objects appropriate to execute the described functionality.Depending on the specific implementation language, a module may be apackage, a class, or a component. It will be understood that anycomputer programming language may support equivalent structures using adifferent terminology than “module.”

It will be understood that the named modules described herein representone embodiment of such modules, and other embodiments may include othermodules. In addition, other embodiments may lack modules describedherein and/or distribute the described functionality among the modulesin a different manner. Additionally, the functionalities attributed tomore than one module can be incorporated into a single module. Where themodules described herein are implemented as software, the module can beimplemented as a standalone program, but can also be implemented throughother means, for example as part of a larger program, as a plurality ofseparate programs, or as one or more statically or dynamically linkedlibraries. In any of these software implementations, the modules arestored on the computer readable persistent storage devices of a system,loaded into memory, and executed by the one or more processors of thesystem's computers.

The operations herein may also be performed by an apparatus. Thisapparatus may be specially constructed for the required purposes, or itmay comprise a general-purpose computer selectively activated orreconfigured by a computer program stored in the computer. Such acomputer program may be stored in a computer readable storage medium,such as, but is not limited to, any type of disk including opticaldisks, CD-ROMs, read-only memories (ROMs), random access memories(RAMs), magnetic or optical cards, or any type of media suitable forstoring electronic instructions, and each coupled to a computer systembus. Furthermore, the computers referred to in the specification mayinclude a single processor or may be architectures employing multipleprocessor designs for increased computing capability.

The algorithms presented herein are not inherently related to anyparticular computer or other apparatus. Various general-purpose systemsmay also be used with programs in accordance with the teachings herein,or it may prove convenient to construct more specialized apparatus toperform the required method steps. The required structure for a varietyof these systems will appear from the description above. In addition,the present invention is not described with reference to any particularprogramming language. It will be appreciated that a variety ofprogramming languages may be used to implement the teachings of thepresent invention as described herein, and any references above tospecific languages are provided for disclosure of enablement and bestmode of the present invention.

While the invention has been particularly shown and described withreference to a preferred embodiment and several alternate embodiments,it will be understood by persons skilled in the relevant art thatvarious changes in form and details can be made therein withoutdeparting from the spirit and scope of the invention.

As used herein, the word “or” refers to any possible permutation of aset of items. Moreover, claim language reciting ‘at least one of’ anelement or another element refers to any possible permutation of the setof elements.

Although this description includes a variety of examples and otherinformation to explain aspects within the scope of the appended claims,no limitation of the claims should be implied based on particularfeatures or arrangements these examples. This disclosure includesspecific embodiments and implementations for illustration, but variousmodifications can be made without deviating from the scope of theembodiments and implementations. For example, functionality can bedistributed differently or performed in components other than thoseidentified herein. This disclosure includes the described features asnon-exclusive examples of systems components, physical and logicalstructures, and methods within its scope.

Finally, it should be noted that the language used in the specificationhas been principally selected for readability and instructionalpurposes, and may not have been selected to delineate or circumscribethe inventive subject matter. Accordingly, the disclosure of the presentinvention is intended to be illustrative, but not limiting, of the scopeof the invention, which is set forth in the following claims.

What is claimed is:
 1. A method comprising: detecting activity within acomment thread associated with a portion of a document, the documentstored by a document system; presenting, within a notification interfaceof a client device, a notification that identifies the document, thecomment thread, and the detected activity, the notification interfacedisplaying notifications associated with other documents stored by thedocument system; presenting, within the notification interface, aresponse interface element configured to receive a textual input from auser of the client device; and in response to receiving the textualinput from the user: providing the textual input to the document system,the document system configured to store the textual input as a commentwithin the comment thread.
 2. The method of claim 1, wherein thenotification further identifies one or more users associated with thecomment thread.
 3. The method of claim 2, wherein the one or more usersassociated with the comment thread comprise users that have commentedwithin the comment thread.
 4. The method of claim 2, wherein thenotification identifies the one or more users associated with thecomment thread by displaying an image for each of at least one of theone or more users within the notification.
 5. The method of claim 1,wherein the notification further identifies the portion of the documentassociated with the comment thread.
 6. The method of claim 5, whereinthe notification identifies the portion of the document associated withthe comment thread by including text associated with the portion of thedocument within the notification.
 7. The method of claim 1, wherein thedocument comprises a collaboratively editable file stored by thedocument system.
 8. The method of claim 1, further comprising: removingthe notification from the notification interface in response toreceiving the textual input from the user.
 9. The method of claim 1,wherein the client device comprises a mobile device, and wherein thenotification interface comprises one of a mobile device operating systeminterface or an interface displayed by a native application of themobile device.
 10. The method of claim 1, further comprising:presenting, within the notification interface, a second interfaceelement configured to, in response to an input from a user of the clientdevice, toggle a status of the notification between read and unread. 11.The method of claim 1, further comprising: presenting, within thenotification interface, a second interface element configured to, inresponse to an input from a user of the client device, flag anotification for a later time.
 12. The method of claim 1, furthercomprising: presenting, within the notification interface, a secondinterface element configured to, in response to an input from a user ofthe client device, remove the notification from the notificationinterface and, after passage of a period of time, re-present thenotification within the notification interface.
 13. The method of claim1, further comprising: presenting, within the notification interface, asecond interface element configured to, in response to an input from auser of the client device, mute notifications associated with thedocument from the notification interface.
 14. The method of claim 1,further comprising: presenting, within the notification interface, asecond interface element configured to, in response to an input from auser of the client device, mute notifications associated with thecomment thread from the notification interface.
 15. The method of claim1, further comprising: ordering the notifications within thenotification interface based on a priority set by a user of the clientdevice.
 16. The method of claim 15, wherein the priority set by the usercomprises a priority of documents stored by the document system.
 17. Themethod of claim 16, wherein the priority of a first document stored bythe document system is based at least in part on the priority of afolder in which the first document is stored.
 18. The method of claim 1,further comprising: presenting, within the notification interface, asecond interface element configured to, in response to an input from theuser of the client device, filter notifications within the notificationinterface based on one or more of: users associated with thenotifications, documents associated with the notifications, foldersassociated with the notifications, tags associated with thenotifications, tasks associated with the notifications, and dateassociated with the notifications.
 19. A non-transitorycomputer-readable storage medium storing executable instructions that,when executed by a processor, cause the processor to perform stepscomprising: receiving activity within a comment thread associated with aportion of a document, the document stored by a document system;presenting, within a notification interface of a client device, anotification that identifies the document, the comment thread, and thedetected activity, the notification interface displaying notificationsassociated with other documents stored by the document system;presenting, within the notification interface, a response interfaceelement configured to receive a textual input from a user of the mobiledevice; and in response to receiving the textual input from the user:providing the textual input to the document system, the document systemconfigured to store the textual input as a comment within the commentthread.
 20. A client device comprising: a non-transitorycomputer-readable storage medium storing executable instructions that,when executed, cause the client device to perform steps comprising:receiving activity within a comment thread associated with a portion ofa document, the document stored by a document system; presenting, withina notification interface of a client device, a notification thatidentifies the document, the comment thread, and the detected activity,the notification interface displaying notifications associated withother documents stored by the document system; presenting, within thenotification interface, a response interface element configured toreceive a textual input from a user of the mobile device; and inresponse to receiving the textual input from the user: providing thetextual input to the document system, the document system configured tostore the textual input as a comment within the comment thread; and aprocessor configured to execute the instructions.